EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Mathernova believes that the forecast that Ukraine could join the European Union by 2030 is realistic. She said this in an interview with European Pravda.
According to her, Ukraine has “broken the matrix” with its initiative in seeking to join the EU, starting with its application in the first days of the full-scale war, and the rather fast pace – compared to other candidate countries – can continue.
I have said it before in an interview and I will say it again: I believe that the goal set by President Michel – Ukraine’s accession to the EU by the end of this decade – is realistic, – said Katarina Mathernova.
At the same time, she noted that joining the EU is not only a technical process of membership negotiations, which itself takes time, but also a political one.
It is also a political ratification in all member states, because the accession of a new member means a change in the EU treaty. Therefore, it has to be ratified in the format required by each EU country. And this always takes some time. For example, during the 2004 enlargement it took about a year and a half, – the ambassador added.
As it became known earlier, official negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union began on June 25, 2024. This is the penultimate and most difficult stage of European integration. After this, the last stage is the approval of the EU Council and the European Parliament and the signing of the agreement.
